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“We just wanted to make the transition easier on them,” Rusty said. “New pack, new people, new living situation, new siblings, new fathers, that’s a lot of new for a small pup to handle.”

“And for their old man too.”

“Let’s get you guys fed,” Roark said.

“Oh, hey, there was a note on the door,” Rusty said. “Somehow word got to Onyx that Wren loved his nuggets. He sent over a batch as a welcome to the pack gift,” Rusty said.

“Those will be perfect for tomorrow,” Roark said. “Now, let’s see what Charlie’s got out on the grill.”

Back upstairs, it dawned on Logan that all the common areas were on the top level. It was the kind of setup he’d imagined when envisioning the house he’d planned for him and Wren, though he’d never dreamed of anything quite as grand as this.

“Wren, this is your Uncle Charlie,” Roark said, introducing them to a mountain of a wolf with gruff features, until he smiled as he knelt and shook Wren’s hand. “And this is our new mate, Logan.”

“Good to meet you both,” Charlie said. “Welcome to the pack and our family. Somewhere around here are my mates and a gaggle of pups.”

“I think we’ll save the introduction to the pups until after we’ve had the chance to chow down. It’s been a long day, and the pastries we scarfed at the bakery are long forgotten,” Roark said.

“What’ll it be, Wren,” Charlie said, pointing at the grill. “We’ve got venison burgers or steaks.”

“I’d love a steak, please.”

“Medium rare, or bloody?”

“Ohhh, bloody, please and thank you.”

“I’ve got just the one right here,” Charlie said, plucking a thick steak off the grill and plopping it on a plate. “Let’s let your dad carry that over to the table for you, and you can pick out what you’d like to go with it.”

The picnic table he gestured to was loaded with food, but the moment Logan spotted them, he knew exactly what Wren was going to reach for, and sure enough, four deviled eggs landed on their plate beside a scoop of seasoned potato chunks.

“Charlie runs the woodshop and the second crew that handles the repairs and renovations around here,” Roark explained. “Last year a wicked storm ripped through and did a lot of damage. Both crews spent the rest of the summer repairing everything that got wrecked. Those guys never have a shortage of work.”

“Logan is with the intelligence division,” Rusty said, “or was.”

“I plan to speak to Brooks about working as a coordinator with our contacts in the field,” Logan explained. “I’ve had firsthand dealings with many of them and might be able to improve the rate at which we relay information,” Logan said. “Of course, I can’t even think about discussing it with him until I’ve got Wren enrolled in school.”

“Geeze, Papa, couldn’t even go one day without asking about school?” Wren whined.

“No pup, I could not.”

“Awe man!”

“Well, I teach at the school, so I can help you there. I’m Kale,” a slender wolf at least fifteen years Charlie’s junior, said from several feet away, where he stood rocking an infant dressed in peach and gray. “And this is Clover, she wanted her Dada.”

“Ba Da bah!”

Baby raspberries and giggles followed his words as the little one squealed and wiggled, arms open and splayed like a starfish as she tried to get to her Da-Da. Charlie wiped his hands on his apron and checked to make sure he didn’t have any cooking implements in his pockets before taking the wiggling child.

“Registration is easy,” Kale explained. “Since you’re a new mate, the school looks at your pack status as being active, and the three of you can enroll Wren whenever you’re ready.”

“Nobody has to sign off on anything or give me a certificate to say that my membership is pending?” Logan asked.

“Nope. Not when your mates are acknowledging you as their mate and your child as theirs,” Kale explained. “I learned all of that when I started working at the school last year.”

“Knowing Brooks, he filed your change of status paperwork as soon as he got back to his office. Well, if he went. He might have talked Cage into helping him take a rare day off, which is good for him. But I’m sure he’ll have it before the council by Monday.”

“Do I start tithing now, or does that kick in once I start working?” Logan asked and watched them exchange looks filled with raised eyebrows and grimly pressed lips.

“There are no tithes here,” Charlie explained. “We abhor that form of government. Nobody uses much currency either, we save that for things we can’t get without going through human sources, which isn’t much besides vehicles and large appliances.”